Halo: The Lost World
by Anonymous Fanz
Summary: On a forgotten planet believed to be destroyed, the survivors fight to stay alive. But when the Covenant discover an ancient secret buried on this planet, things will change for everyone on the planet.
1. Home Invasion

**This is a halo fanfic I came up with a long time ago. Alot of characters from the main Halo universe won't be appearing, but a number of them will be mentioned or appear in flashbacks. The best I can link this to the rest of the Halo universe is as existing within it. It's sort of one an island outside the rest of the Halo universe. The events of the games aren't directly affecting this story, but they do have their connections to it. If it were to be a part of it, it wouldn't be part of the main line of games. It would be more like Halo Wars, where the events in the story don't affect anything else in the Halo universe.**

 **I don't own anything in the Halo universe. I do own the plot, and characters with in this fanfic.**

* * *

 _Richard's narration_

It's been almost 5 years since the Covenant attacked. In 2547, Olympus, one of the inner human colonies, first encountered the covenant.

The UNSC countered with the deployment of Spartan teams as quickly as possible. We were able to win ground victories, but we still stood no chance against them in space. Our ships weren't powerful enough. It wasn't long before we were trapped on this planet. No way off. No one left to help us.

In a last ditch effort, we launched an attack on their ships. We hijacked a Phantom, and infitrated a cruiser. We used it to destroy most of their fleet. But they retook the ship just after we wiped out the rest of their fleet.

All of the survivors came to the ground. We put so much into the attack on the cruiser, once they launched their drop pods reached the planet, we could hardly do anything to save ourselves.

Now, there's hardly anyone left on the planet. Civilian, military, or otherwise. We're all scattered, uncoordinated, and surviving on whatever we can find.

...

 _ **Saved by the bell**_

 _Leslie's POV_

I wish something would happen so I could leave the goddamn diagnostics. Normally, we go to the armory guys, but we don't have any of our technicians still alive (Other than James who's "not that kind of technician"), so we have to make do with Doc. I hate him. Why do I even need to do the diagnostics? Seriously, it's not like they're important or anything. It's just basic controls, for fucks sake. Does it really matter if they're inverted or not?

Suddenly, my wish was granted when an alarm went off. Thank whoever is responsible! I ran out of the med-center, to immediately be shot at by plasma fire. This is still way better than the diagnostics! I grabbed a plasma pistol out of a grunts hands, and shot him with it. I used a overcharged shot to take out an elite's sheilds, before punching him in the face. He kicked me into a wall, so I shot him with my plasma pistol again.

Some grunts were coming down the hall, so I threw a plasma grenade at them. They scattered, as one of their friends panicked when he got stuck by the grenade. I punched one of them that leaped in my direction. As the rest tried to flee the way they came, I shot them with my plasma pistol. None of them died, but I'll bet it scared whatever crap they had left after the grenade out of them.

"Does anyone read me? This is James." I am so glad to hear him right now. "James, what's going on?" I asked. "Obviously, the Covenant got inside the base." James said. Yes! We're under attack! That means we get to kill aliens!

"How'd they get in?" I asked. "How the fuck should I know?" He asked. "Well, you did call the spartan for something earlier." I said. I figured Richard was with him. "Then shouldn't you be asking him. He's near your area." James said. He's kind of a dick sometimes, but we deal with it. "I didn't know that. I thought he was near YOUR area!" I replied.

"Do you honestly think your fucking funny?" James asked. "Well, yes." I answered. "Well first of all, your not!" He yelled back.

...

I walked towards the waypoint he added on my helmets visor thing. The Hud! I walked to the waypoint, and found some dead elites. They were wearing silver armor instead of the normal Red, White, Blue, or Purple.

"James, he's not here." I said. Unless he's invisible or something. His armor can do that, I think. "He's somewhere nearby. Something seems to be screwing with our tracking, so I can't pinpoint his exact location, but he should be somewhere close." James said. My motion tracker is messed up too. It thinks I'm surrounded.

I can hear the sounds of an elite screaming. Or someone yelling because they got impaled. Or a Wilhelm scream impersonation. I have no idea what it is, but it's close. I followed the sounds of plasma fire to find Richard shooting at a wall with his SMGs.

"What are you doing?" I asked. "Keep your eyes open. They've got active camo." Richard warned. The fuck is active camo? "So why are you shooting a wall?" I asked.

Did he just shoot me? "Ow, what the hell?" I asked him. He doesn't usually shoot me. Unless he's REALLY bored. Richard fired again, and an Elite appeared out of nowhere. Oh, active camo means their invisible. I thought only that-one-armor-worn-by-those-guy-ONI-says-we're-not-supposed-to-talk-about could do that. Then again, the Covies usually get the good shit before we do. I should've known they had some invisibility up their sleeve.

An elite pulled out a sword and charged at me. Richard trip kicked him, and shot him while he was down. I fired my plasma rifle blindly, until I hit something. Richard shot the invisible elite to death before it could get away.

"James, I found Richard." I reported. "We've got people scattered all over the base that need help. You two have to save them." James ordered. Now we have to save everyone else. Awesome!

"James. Can you access the Covenant battle-net?" Richard asked. "Of course, but unless you know someone that speaks alien, it won't do us any good." James replied. "See what you can pull up, and try to decode it." Richard ordered. "Are you even listening to what I'm saying? It's not coded, it's alien!" James repeated. He probably has a plan we don't know about. "Let's move, Leslie." Richard began our search for the others.

...

We moved towards the nearest area with other marines. They were in battle, and needed our help. "Guys! It's the spartan!" Ash yelled, when Richard was immediately noticed by his special armor. Ash is a hellbringer, which are these guys who use flamethrowers. She also happens to be a pyromaniac.

I gave some support fire with my "borrowed" plasma rifles, but Richard cut through the aliens like they were nothing. Seeing Richard in action made me start to think about if I could be a spartan. The power. The speed. They're a force to be reckoned with on the battlefield.

"Thanks for the help spartan. That's another one we owe you." Ash said. I wonder if he keeps count. "What's your status?" Richard asked. "I'm fine. I just gathered everyone I could. Everyone else is outside making sure no one escapes." Ash reported.

"This is Corporal Jenkins! I need backup!" Someone was yelling in our radio. I remember his name, but I don't know from where. "Covies are trying to take out the armory! Send support ASAP!" Sounds like he's in trouble. "We can't lose the armory. Let's move, double time!" Richard ordered. Time to go be a hero!

...

 ** _At least I have Chicken_**

We fought a couple of the aliens on our way to the armory, but there was almost no resistance. When we got to the armory, we realized, they were fortifying the area outside it's entrance. They had turrets and snipers above us, and a higher ranking elite than usual in charge. This one had a reddish-purple armor, and he was holding a plasma sword. "Don't move in until I give the signal." Richard ordered. He turned invisible, so I can't see what he's doing.

"LETS DO THIS! LEEEEERRROOOYYY JEEENNNKKKIIIIIINNNSSS!" I remembered where I recognized him from. That was Leroy. He's known for ruining other people's plans by charging in guns blazing. Usually, because we somehow fail to tell him the plan before he tries it, and so he doesn't even realize that he's screwing it up. It doesn't always end badly, but we hate it when he fucks up a good plan.

And he just did. The aliens began firing at him, so Richard quickly assassinated the new elite, and began shot at the snipers with his SMG. Once they were dead, he took out the turrets with some grenades while we charged in to give him back up. The plan worked great, but Leeroy sort of rushed everything.

"We still got weapons and ammunition in the armory. Although, you might want to get someone to reorganize it." Leroy explained. I doubt he realizes what he's done. But he did one thing right. He saved a lot of guns and ammo in that armory. We were running low with all the fighting we had to do while they just hid in there, trying to hold out.

"James, are there anymore soldiers in need of assistance?" Richard used the radio to contact James. But he gave no response. "We need to get to the coms center and check on James." Richard ordered.

...

We moved towards the coms center as quickly as possible. We need to find out why James stopped responding. When we got there, we saw plasma fire on the walls and doors outside.

We entered, to see some fighting was still going on. "You mind killing these guys before they can kill us?" James asked. He was covering behind a computer, fending of the aliens with nothing but his magnum. He managed to kill a few of them already. We killed the rest in less than a minute.

"Anymore of them?" Richard asked. "Reports from outside tell us that a few tried to escape, but they weren't too lucky." James reported. "We aren't detecting anymore contacts inside the base, so we should be fine. Probably." I don't feel reassured.

"Did you find out what they were doing here?" Richard asked. "I pulled stuff of their battle-net, but I can't break the alien language barrier." James said, projecting his findings on a screen. "So where can we get a translator?" I asked. "Only AI have been able to translate this crap, dumbass." Leroy explained. "We'll have to find one." Ash said. "How the hell are we going to find an AI on an abandoned planet?" James asked.

While they were talking, I watched the screen translate itself. I have no idea if I'm going crazy, or if that really happened. "Guys, it's translated!" I yelled. When they looked, the screen was already finished translating. "Leslie, what the hell did you do!" James yelled. Not in his usual angry yelling voice. More of a surprised voice. The kind when you see someone do the impossible.

"I didn't do anything. It did it by itself, while you were talking." I said. "Bullshit." Leroy replied. "I'm serious! It happened. I have no idea what the fuck it was." I swear, that's what happened.

"Apparently the Covenant were trying to find out how to access something they in the city. They seem to think we know how." James explained. So the Covies want something in New Athens? Well we're about to go find out what.


	2. New Athens

**The second chapter. I'm going to try to make each characters POV a little but different, and a little bit the same. For example, Leslie is going to think like a halo player; enjoying the stuff he gets to do. He's going to be looking forward to each chance he gets to shoot something, where as James thinks more pessimistically, because he hates what's going on, and will be annoyed and/or angered by anything going wrong. Another thing I'm trying to do is mix action with dialogue. Similar to how in the Halo games, the AI say things triggered by certain events like a grenade being thrown or an enemy dying, I'm going to influence this into the story. There's plenty of other new stuff in this chapter, alot of it inspired by the games.**

* * *

 ** _New Athens_**

Richard's POV

I had a team of me, Leslie, and Leroy. We flew towards the city on a pelican. New Athens. The giant city most of the population lived in. The only reason it's still here is because it's so huge, we were able to take out their ships in the assault before they could destroy all of it. Still, there's alot of glassed area. And the Covenant still did plenty of damage to the city without their ships.

"This is the closest we can bring you. Covie's got AA guns that'll tear us to shreds if we get to close. And we don't have a lot of Birds left." Huan reported. Everyone got off the Pelican, and jumped onto a damaged bridge. "Let's move!" I ordered. I entered the drivers seat of the warthog we brought with us.

"So, what do we know about the thing the Covies are after?" Leroy asked, as he entered the seat next to me. "It's not clear what it is, but it's important to them. And they don't seem very happy with the fact that we have it and they don't." James answered over the radio. He's watching us from base. "Well, we'll give them something to be mad about!" Leslie enthusiastically shouted as he climbed on the machinegun.

I drove ahead. I had to go around a couple barriers that were placed during the evacuation. Once we got to the end of the bridge, we found a Jackal Sniper tower. "Snipers! Watch out!" Leroy shouted, as the Jackal's inside began firing their carbines. "Send them a grenade!" I ordered. Leroy threw a grenade, which got sent up the sniper towers grav lift, killing the bird-like aliens. "Nice throw!" Leslie shouted.

We drove into the city. "Be careful. You've got enemy patrols ahead. We don't know how many Covenat forces are in the city, so try to avoid any unnecessary engagements." James warned. "Relax. I wouldn't want to get married to an alien anyway." Leslie joked. "Ugh. This is why no one likes you." Leroy said. I drove us through the city. We have the coordinates of whatever was blocking the Covenant from getting what they wanted. However, since we don't have a map of the city, we don't know what's there.

I stopped driving once we reached our destination: Scepter Tower. A monument to the ego of Nathaniel Scepter, the genius billionaire who owns most of the city—no, the planet. "James, we're near the coordinates. But they seem to want us to go under Scepter Tower." I reported. We got out of the warthog.

"Are you sure these are the right coordinates?" Leroy asked. "They definitely are go into the tower. Whatever the Covenant want is in the lower levels." James said. Ironic, that we go the tallest tower on the planet, which miraculously hasn't fallen, and end up going under it.

"Maybe it's in their basement?" Leslie suggested. It's possible that Scepter could have something the Covenant wants in his "basement". He makes advanced technology. But what could it be? What could he have that the Coventant don't.

We walked in through the front door. "Greetings: Welcome to Scepter Tower." An AI greeted us. "I am MAC, the Multi-Autonomous-Complex. I am an artificial intelligences connected to all Scepter Industries automated systems to provide any assistance you may require." The AI introduced itself.

An alarm was triggered the moment I walked through a door to the main lobby. "Warning: Carrying firearms inside the tower is a direct violation of safety protocols. Please had them over to the nearest customs officer immediately." Based on it's lack of personality, I'm guessing he's a dumb AI. They lack the personality and intelligence smart AIs are known for.

But they also don't have sophisticated memory that causes rampancy, making them more reliable for long term use, easier to obtain without ONI becoming suspicious of what your using it for. But to fair, the last time they just handed someone an AI, he used it to break laws for his own agenda.

In this case, it's just going to annoy the hell out of us by trying to enforce rules that don't matter right now. "We are soldiers from the UNSC." I explained. "Please identify yourself." MAC ordered. "I'm Richard, Warrent Officer A-216." I reported. Hopefully, it recognizes UNSC authority. "Authority Un—Authorit—Authority recognized. Level thr—Level two clearance has granted." The AI glitched a bit. It looks like it had an error recognizing my authority. I have a few guesses on why that might have happened.

"What's level two clearance?" Leslie asked. "Level two clearance is reserved for Scepter corp executive employees." MAC answered. "So why does Richard's have it?" Leroy asked. "In the event of an invasion from the Covenant, high ranked UNSC military personnel are allowed level two clearance." The AI explained. The emergency protocols may be glitched. It's having trouble reprioritizing.

"Have the Covenant been here recently?" I asked. "Unknown individuals arrived twenty hours ago. They failed to properly identify themselves and lack valid clearance, so I was forced to take aggressive action." MAC said. I looked around the lobby. It was filled with dead aliens.

An elevator arrived. "They came in search of classified projects on the lower levels." We all walked onto the elevator.

...

 ** _Level Two Clearance_**

We took the elevator down to a level I didn't know existed. We were far below the city. "Where are we?" I asked. "The Research and Development level. Various experimental technolgy is here, including prototype Spartan armor, unreleased weapons, and experimental equipment." MAC explained.

Leslie's looking at a prototype armor. "What armor is this?" He asked. "Hayabusa armor. The armor was designed by RKD, and Earth-based thinktank partially funded by Nathaniel Scepter. While the armor was slightly slower than it's rival, the MJOLNIR armor, it is 33 percent lighter, and enhances heavy lifting, and extra-vehicular activity." The AI answered.

I looked at the armor. It's design came from feudal Japanese Samurai. It was as much a masterpiece as it was a weapon. Exactly the sword of thing Scepter would made "This particular Hayabusa is the Mark II. It has been modified by Nathaniel Scepter himself. He capitalized on enhancing speed and upgrading with armor equipment usage, with hopes of making an armor more useful to Spartan's in advanced tactical warfare, as well as taking away the advantages the MJOLNIR armor had over the original." MAC continued.

So this armor is a unique improvement over the orginal Hayabusa. One of a kind. Exactly what I need to turn the tides on the Covenant. "Are there any negative results of using the armor?" I asked. "Warning: The modified armor has not been field tested. It is unknown what affects they may have on the user in combat." MAC said. Risks I'm willing to take. "Guys, I'm going to take the armor. See if you can find anything else useful." I ordered.

...

Leslie's POV

Me and Leroy wandered around while Richard was trying on the new suit. "So, where are the weapons we got down here?" Leroy asked. "The line of unreleased weapons are in the crates on your right." Leroy immediately started looking at the guns in each diffrent crate. He'll be busy for a while.

So I guess I get to look at the experimental stuff. At least I'm the only one that wants to lok at the stuff no one's used before. I walked into some kind of lab. Inside a cryopod was what looked like a person. "Mac? What is that?" I asked the AI.

"That is Arnold. He is a part of the Terminator Project. He voluteered to become an experimental cyborg super-soldier created as means of making more efficient versions of the spartans. The project was scrapped after the introduction of Spartan III's, due to." Mac answered. That sounds like something out of a sci-fi film. Or a videogame. And that says a lot considering that I fight aliens for a living.

"He's a cyborg?" I asked. I can see he has some kind of power armor. Unless it's actually part of him. "He has various advanced cybernetics implants to improve combat effectivity and repair damages to his body from combat injuries prior to the experiment." I'm not sure if that's an answer.

"Can you wake him up. Or turn him on. Or whatever." I asked. "I will begin thawing him. He should be out in an estimate of one minute." Mac answered. I noticed a computer in the lab was flashing lights. I decided to see what was up with it.

 _"The Project Reclaimer must be safeguarded."_ The voice of Nathaniel Scepter appeared in my head when I touched the console. I saw images in my head of things I never saw before. They looked alien. It looked like the Covenant, but twice as advanced. I don't know what any of it is, but it's on this planet. When it all ended, I turned to see Arnold getting out of the pod.

"Who the hell are you?" Arnold asked. "I'm private Leslie Jones." I answered. "Corporal Arnold—" He just stopped completely before giving me his last name. Does he not remember. "Arnold what?" I asked. He just kept staring at me.

"Show me to your commanding officer." He ordered. Well, he's probably the weirdest guy I've ever met. "Richard! Come and see this!" I yelled. He walked over here in his new armor. "Who is that?" Richard asked. "I am Arnold. I am a Terminator." He answered. "He is part of a scrapped cyborg super soldier project headed by Nathaniel Scepter." MAC explained.

"MAC, what exactly was the Covenant looking for?" Richard asked. "The Covenant wanted information on a classified experiment, Project Reclaimer." The thing from my dream-vision thing? "What's Project Reclaimer?" Leroy asked.

"You do not have proper clearance to access these records." MAC said. Seriously. "Guess we're going to have to take the files from his core." I said. Suddenly, alarms went off. "I can not allow you do that." MAC said. Well that's not cliche. "Damn it, Leslie!" Leroy yelled. "What's the big deal. It's just a bunch of prerecorded responses. He can't hurt us." I said.

A turret appeared out of the ceiling, with a laser pointed at me. Richard tackled me towards cover just before the turret started firing. Leroy fired a grenade launcher he found at the turret, destroying it with two shots. "Arnold, do you know where the AI core is?" Richard asked. "Affirmative." The cyborg answered.

...

 _ **I'm sorry Dave, I'm afraid I can't do that**_

Leroy's POV

I blew up some more turrets so we could make our way to the weapons. They got more ammo for my grenade launcher and other weapons. Half this stuff has never been tested (At least never field tested), but they seem to be working fine. Richard picked up some Hi-tech Katana. Probably meant to go with his ninja armor. Arnold the cyborg picked up some pistol with laser sight and a scope.

"We should go grab MAC's main core." Richard said. "We cannot do that from here. He is a system linked to multiple Scepter Corp security systems." Arnold warned. "So what do we do?" Leslie asked. "In order to destroy him, we need to reach his main core, located in an underground bunker beneath the city." Arnold answered. "So let's do that." I said.

"We need to reach an elevator to access Scepter Corp's tunnel system." Arnold explained. We went to the elevator we came in through, but it was locked. Arnold punched down the doors on the thing. He looks like walking muscle already, but damn! That guy is tough!

"Let's do this, LEEEERRROOOOOOOYY JEEENNKINNS!" I yelled, as I slid down the elevator's rope, eventually reaching the bottom. The others followed me shortly after. Wow. These tunnels look old and abandoned. Parts of the walls and ceiling were broken. "You'd think being underground would've kept this place safe from bombardment." I said. "The destruction caused quakes which damaged the structure of these tunnels." Arnold explained.

We continued following him to the AI core. "What's up with MAC?" Leslie asked. "The Multi-Autonomous-Complex-Security-System is not functioning correctly. It is either damaged or compromised." Arnold answered. MACSS. "Compromised?" Leslie asked. "He means it might have been hacked." Richard translated the technobabble.

...

We made it to the end of the tunnels. We could see a giant building i. The center of a cave connecting other tunnels here. That was where the core "Alright, how do we remove the Core?" Leslie asked. "The core was designed to be removed, but only in event of pontential capture by the Covenant." Arnold answered. "So what? It's not like we can ask them to attack this place so we can take the core." I said.

 _ **Capture of corporate Security AI is unacceptable**_

A giant hole was blown above us, and Phantoms came pouring in. "Apparently they did it for us anyway." Leslie said. "We need to reach that AI first!" Richard ordered. We all sprinted to the center building, killing a few aliens taking positions to stop us from grabbing the AI.

"The core must be removed by someone with proper clearance." Arnold walked up to it. MACSS might stop us. He was scanned, then the core was slowly removed from the floor. Guess it really is a dumb AI. The core is pretty big. Arnold is able to carry it, but I'm pretty sure only other Spartan's are doing that.

I cannot use my weapons while carrying the core." Arnold said, before dropping it. "James, we need evac! Send the pelican!" Richard ordered. "I'm sending the pelican your coordinates." James responded.

"Wait a minute. Where are you, and how the fuck do you expect to get an airlift from underground." He asked. "We're in a cave. Covies blew a giant hole above us, so we shouldn't be that hard to miss." I answered. "Seriously? Hold on until your evac gets there." James said.

We grabbed ammo from some weapon racks, and began fighting the Covies as they came for us. Waves of Grunts, Jackels, Elites, and the brutes. They didn't send them out much, so they must be determined to get that AI. But we weren't just going to hand it to them.

We fought them off until the pelican arrived, firing it's machine gun to clear a landing path. Arnold picked the core back up, and we all moved to the pelican. Once everyone was on board, we had a new problem. Covies were blocking the way out.

"Huan, fly us through the tunnels. We'll lose them in there." There were some tunnels large enough for the pelican to fly through. And Huan, the pilot, went in the closest one. The phantoms aren't as fast as us, but the banshees were faster. Before we knew it, we had trouble right behind us. "Someone grab that turret and fire back." I used the machinegun in the back of the pelican to shoot down the banshees following us.

...

"What the hell is that thing?" James asked the moment he saw us. "It's Nathaniel Scepter's home security system." Leslie answered. "It's an AI that knows things about Scepter Corp's projects. We think this is what the Covenant are after." Richard explained. "It has knowledge of Scepter Corp's experiments the Covenant are likely searching for information on one of them." Arnold noted.

James looked at the thing. "What could Scepter Corp have that they don't?" James asked. Question we've all been asking. "Maybe it's just about keeping us from getting what they do have." Leslie suggested. "No, they would have just blown up the place if that was the case. They needed information it has. It knows something they don't." Richard said.

James struggled to pick up the core. Arnold grabbed it for him. "I'll see what's on the thing." James said. "Oh right, you didn't introduce me to your new friend." He added. "I am Arnold. I am a Terminator." Arnold introduced himself. "What the hell?" James asked. "He's some kind of cyborg super soldier." I explained.

...


	3. Buried answers

**Project Reclaimer! What does it do? Terminator project? Why is Arnold the only one? Nathaniel Scepter?** **Who is he? So many questions to be asked, but few answers to be given. With any luck, I'll be able to get through these quicker to show you the answers. In other news, my story is going to connect to my brother's halo fanfiction series. They actually had a cameo so far, and are going to have a major role in the later plot. Also, I'm introducing a new main character to the story.**

 **...**

 ** _Bad news, Bad news_**

Ash's POV

"We've got bad news, and bad news." James had us all come see him and "the MAC thing". "What did you learn?" Richard asked. "Well, first is that it seems to be malfunctional. Keeps rambling about authorization." Oh. That's bad.

"Can't you just pull the information from him?" Leslie asked. "Apparently, whoever designed the AI was a fucking genius. It's smart enough to keep me from bypassing it. Unless we can find someone on the planet with level one clearance, we aren't getting much out of it. Which means we need Nathaniel Scepter himself." And I'm willing to bet he's died already.

"And then there's the second part." Well, this can't be worse. "It doesn't have the information. It's all stored in a database which it can't access unless it's plugged into Scepter Corp's network." Oh, come on! And it was hard enough dragging that thing over here. Now we got to drag it back?!

"But we just got it here!" Leslie whined. "We did that for nothing?" Leroy asked. "Negative: It is possible to access the MACSS database without returning it to the mainhub. And allowing the Covenant to obtain it would be allow them to locate the information they are searching for." Arnold explained.

"So we need to find Scepter Corp executive and another Scepter Corp facility." Richard summarized. "Preferably one the aliens don't know about." I added.

"Arnold, Scepter made contigencies to give Spartan's level two access. You think he might have a few hideouts incase the Covies paid him a visit?" Leslie asked. Leslie, you idiot. He doesn't think, he's a robot. "Highly likely: I was created as a contingency to reacquire his projects. Specifically, Project Reclaimer, which he believes could revolutionize the Human race." Arnold answered. That's convenient.

"Where would he most likely be?" Richard's asked. "Uncertain. There is also a distinct possibility he left the planet." Arnold replied. "Huan, Ash, and myself are going to the evacuation site. There should be records of who made it on the crashed ships. Verify if he was on any of them." Richard's ordered. Cool, we get to see the crash sites. "James, Arnold, Leroy and Leslie are going to see if we can findout what Scepter Corp facilities on the planet are still active." That might be cool too.

...

Huan's POV

I went to get my pelican. I had to get it repaired because we can't afford to over look slight damages. "Is my bird ready?" I asked. I do not like the mechanic at all. "Yeah, I fixed it." Pig, we call him. Because he is messy, and he basically lives in that mess he calls a car. I'm suprised he can fix any of our vehicles while living like that sloppy thing that he is. But he's the only mechanic we have.

...

 _ **"How does somebody know what they want, if they haven't even seen it?"**_

Jame's POV

We stopped the warthog at a an abandoned Scepter Corp factory, built up high in some mountains. The place had vines growing out of the walls, and the walls looked like they were built ages ago. It feeels like they were built ages ago. "This is the place?" I asked. Arnold walked over to the wall. "Affirmative. This factory was built by Scepter Corp." Arnold confirmed. He seems to react to things slower while he's doing other things. Not sure why.

Arnold punched an entrance through the wall. We walked in, and saw the place looked as bad inside as it did outside. The vines we saw were growing from in here, so the entire floor was covered in plants which ran up the walls. Arnold began looking at an old console with a cracked screen. When he tried to turn it on, a blue screen of death appeared. Normally it reads:

 _A total Function exception has occured at your location. All system functionality will be terminated. *press the 1 key to restart the power system. If system does not restart; contact technical support using the 2 key. *If you need to talk to a programmer, press the 3 key to continue__

Instead, we have:

 _A total FU exception has occurred at your location. All system functionality will be terminated. *Press any key to power cycle the system. If system does not restart; scream at top of lungs and pound on keypad. *If you need to talk to a programmer press any other key Press any key to continue__

The dumbass Leslie followed the instructions. "Idiot, the console is damaged. Probably caused by the MACSS being removed." I said. "Negative. This console is not controled by MACSS. Someone deliberately altered the message." Arnold explained. "Maybe it's a clue to finding Scepter?" Leroy suggested. This is getting overcomplicated.

I manually reset the console, but the same message appeared when it came back online. Then, it changed.

 _This console has been corrupted by {Error: Not found}. System FU are terminated by U. *hold control-FU to activate {Error: Not found}. Proceed to search {Error: Not found} for NScepter location. *If you wish to speak with a programmer, they have all been terminated Press any key to continue__

Sounds like the Console knows what's going on, but lacks the vocabulary to name off certain elements. Leslie held control-FU, and a hole emerged from the floor. Guess whatever is behind this wants us to go down.

...

 ** _The Demon_**

Richard's POV

"Huan, watch the pelican." I ordered. We landed at the toppled slipspace elevator. Covenant was already here, trying to get inside. I fired off my DMR, quickly and effectively killing them. "What are the Covies doing here?" Ash asked. "Either they have the same idea we do, or there's something important here." I answered.

We walked into the sideways building. "Why do we have to walk through a sideways building? It's confusing!" A grunt whined. Grunts. From the way they're talking, they don't have any commanders nearby. "As soon as we kill the demon, it's all over." Another grunt answered.

"Demon?" Ash asked. "The elites would refer to certain Spartan's as demons, if they killed enough of their people." I explained. "The other Covenant use the name for Spartan's in general. Which means there's one here." I didn't know any were still alive. I thought I was the only Spartan left on the planet.

I drew my sword and ran in their direction. The sword had electrical sparks coming off it, and a power indicator appeared on my hud, replacing my grenades. I shot the two grunts with my DMR.

A brute leaped in my direction. I hit him with the sword, and he was knocked back by the electrical plasma, which disrupted his makeshift armor. The Brutes are some of the most poorly equipped troops in the covenant. The brute ran at me again, so I slashed him, finishing him.

Two jackals fired at me. I charged at one using an energy shield guantlet. When my sword hit his shield, the Jackal was knocked away when it cut through it. The other tried to run, but I grabbed and impaled him.

I continued to advance, towards the top of the tower. I have to find this other Spartan. I was able to keep the group around, and I'm just one Spartan. The two Spartan's can survive anything. With him, we can't lose.

I stopped when I saw the other Spartan. He was fighting. He was taking on an elite zealot. A Field marshal. The Zealot had an energy sword, and dual plasma rifles. He was trying to stab the Spartan, but he wasn't fast enough to get a hit. The Spartan dodged until he was able to grab an energy sword from afallen Elite to block a slash from the elite.

The two dueled. Each slash draining their shields. As their shields went down, the Spartan grabbed the elite by the neck, and threw him into a wall. The elite took out his dual plasma rifles and fired at the Spartan. He dropped the sword and went for cover. I stabbed the elite in the back while he was still unalerted to my presence.

"Spartan, identify yourself." I ordered. I want too know who he is. "Petty officer 001, Scott." He reported. He's a higher rank than I am. I heard of this guy. He's somewhat disobient, even when compared with other Spartans, who aren't exactly know for following orders by the letter.

His armor was damaged, but not badly enough that he'd need medical attention. Although, I think his missing helmet might be in worse condition. Considering Spartan's rarely take off their helmets, he probably lost it or stopped using it because of visor damage.

Based on his face being as hairy as a caveman, he's been out of contact with the UNSC; He's been on this planet just as long as the rest of us. Surviving alone. "I'm Warrent Officer Richard, A-216." I introduced myself. "I didn't think any of the Spartan III's were still alive after that suicide mission. You're not known for coming back from missions." Scott said. True, I'm one of the few known to survive a mission. Most of the others are fighting for other worlds.

"I'm working on finding Nathaniel Scepter. I think he might have created something with the means to defeat the Covenant. I need access to the records from the evacuation." I explained. "Won't help you if he was on the ships. All of them got shot down." Scott replied. "I'm verifying he hasn't left the planet." I explained. "Alright. I'll make sure the aliens don't sneak up on you." He said.

I walked into the command center for the evacuation. "Sorry about the mess. I don't get visitors often. Well, visitors I don't shoot." I could tell when I walked in Scott had been living in here for years. He had piles of different stuff all over the place. This is going to take a while.

...


	4. Answering questions

**Let's jump into the backstory of this new spartan. We're going to see a familiar faces from the Halo games. This is an important person in the Halo universe, so get hyped!**

 **Anonymous Fanz does not own any offical Halo Characters that appear or are mentioned in this story.**

* * *

 _Scott's Narration_

I can remember how this started. Decades ago, when I was four years old, my family went on a trip to another planet. An insurrectionist attack caused the ship to crash land. I got sent off the ship on an emergency shuttle. The rest of my family didn't make it. They keep telling me I was lucky, but I never believed it.

...

 _ **Where it all began.**_

Scott's POV

Obviously, I'm the one that got in trouble. If that one prick didn't touch my stuff, I wouldn't have had to break any of their teeth. But I get detention, while they get to sit around in the nurses office. They're probably sucking on some lollipops right now.

"I heard you got into a fight earlier." A woman walked into the room. I have no idea who she is. Looks like a teacher, but I've never seen her before. "It wasn't my fault." I noted. The woman sat down. "I've heard this happens very often." She said. Why is she interested? "I don't like it when people mess with me." I replied. I don't start fights, but I always finish them.

"Fair enough. Do you know why you're the only one here?" She asked. "Because after I beat up some kids that were messing with me, I got in trouble. Meanwhile, they get to sit around with the nurse." I answered. "Oh, so that's what you think they're doing." What's she talking about? "The other children you were fighting. They aren't at the nurse. They're in the hospital." What? "Why?" I asked. "Because of you." She answered. I sent them to the hospital?

...

 _Scott's Narration_

I never saw the big picture until I looked back at it. A lot of my life was like that. Things I'm looking for, right under my nose, right there in front of me and I don't realize until it's too late. I didn't realize I injured those pricks so badly they had to go to the hospital while I was getting in trouble.

I also failed to notice that the woman had been testing me while we were talking. But that talk made start looking back. Start thinking more about what I missed than what's going on. And soon, I became more concerned with what went on around me.

I decided to run away sometime later because of some issues with my adoptive parents. The same day, I was abducted into the Spartan Program.

...

Scott's POV

I have no idea where I am, or how I got here, but I don't like any of this. Everyones following that military looking guy, but I don't like this. "Where do you think you're going?" Another one. His badges look real. I think these are really the UNSC. "The rest are going over there." He seems to want me to follow everyone else.

They all had their hair shaved into identical crew cuts. I checked, and mine was shaved as well. Everyone looked almost the same. Which means that whoevers behind this is stripping us of our identities. I don't like this at all.

"Move!" The soldier zapped me with an electrical stun weapon. I followed the others. "Have a seat, all of you." It's her. The woman that spoke with me at my school. She's dressed diffrently. She has a white coat, she's not military, but she's important somehow.

"According to naval code 45812, you are hereby conscipted into UNSC's special project codenamed ORION II. Also know as Spartan II." So when she saw me, it was for this? Why me? I have so many questions, but I don't think I'm getting any answered.

"Your parents are gone." Is it because no one would know if I disappeared after I ran away? "The planet Reach is your new home." Did they plan on that? "Your fellow trainees are your new family." Have they done similar things to the others before us? "Each of you has been hand selected and called to serve." How long have they been planning this?

"Your bodies are already faster and stronger than other children." Is that why I fight so good? What would happen if I fought with one of the other trainees? "And we are going to make them even better." Why do they need to do this? What do they have planned for me?

...

 _ **Have you tried rebooting?**_

Leroy's POV

So far, we've found a lot of stairs. And now we're in a room similar to the place where I found my new grande launcher. "Me and Arnold are going to see if we can plug in MACSS. You and Leslie check for security turrets incase it tries to go Skynet on us." James ordered.

"But what if the Covenant decides to follow us down here? Wouldn't keeping those extra guns online be a smart idea?" I asked. "You want to get shot when it turns on us?" James asked? I don't think it would be that hard to take care of. "The probability MACSS will turn on us is 32%." Arnold noted. So those are good odds.

"Bringing the AI back online now." James said. "Multi-Autonomous-Complex-Security-System online." Looks like it's active. "Scanning for hostiles." Aw shit. It's pulling down the wall turrets. "No hostile targets present. Locking down the perimeter. And now the doors closing. But at least the AI isn't trying to kill us.

"MACSS, we need to find the location of all active Scepter Corp facilities after the Covenant invaded." James asked. "Level Two clearance is required. Please identify yourself." Shit, we don't have the Spartan with us. "I am Corperal Arnold—" The cyborg cut off. "He keeps doing that when we ask his name." Leslie noted. Weird.

"Authority Recognized. Level Two clearance granted." The AI seems to be less glitchy now. What was up with it before? Maybe it just needed a reset. Unplugging it and plugging it back in probably fixed the thing.

"Checking data on other facilities activities: No data found within the past 5 years." That can't be good. "So we got nothing? We went all the way out here and you don't know anything?" James asked.

"Is Scepter even alive?" I asked. "I am unable to answer these questions." MACSS replied. Well shit. He's probably dead. "Warning: Security network may be compromised by classification 1337 hacker." What? I don't know what that means. "Who is hacking the security network." Arnold asked.

The annoucement speakers are acting up. "I would like to let you know it has been five years since our last security breach." That's not MACSS. Not an AI, or alien. That's a human's voice. Okay, this is getting wierd.

...

 _ **Daddy, can I keep him?**_

Ash's POV

God damn it! If I knew that Richard was going to just run off and make me catch up with him, I would have had Huan come with us. I'm not a Spartan, dammit! I can't keep up with you people! Richard already found the other one.

"Okay, who's the old guy?" I asked. He doesn't look anything like Richard. His armors completely different from what Richard used to have, and he has no helmet. "A Spartan II." Richard's replied. That doesn't explain why the two look different.

"Well, we need to get those evac logs and leave." I said. "Already did that. Scepter's wasn't here. He's on the planet somewhere." That's good to know. "Huan, we need evac. We're bringing an extra passenger with us." I reported. "Roger that. I'm headed your way." Huan responded. This went well. Found a Spartan. Scepter is still on the planet somewhere.

And the tower is shaking. "What's going on?" I asked. "Covenant are trying to blow up the tower. They have lots of air support firing. You need to get out of there." Huan reported over the radio.

"Any way out of here without being spotted?" Richard asked. "We would need to go underwater. And I don't have a helmet." The other spartan answered. "And my suits fireproof, not waterproof." I added. If we're not too heavy to swim, we'll be spotted once we come up for air.

"We can't afford to leave anyone behind. We're going to have to risk rushing back out." Richard said. "You realize if my pelican is destroyed, I die? We don't have replacements for either of us." Huan reminded. "I'll distract the air support. Keep them focused near the roof while you leave by the entrance." Richard explained his plan. Send us out one end while he keeps them on the other. "Once you two are out, I'll jump into the water and request pickup at the city." Richard explained.

"Got it!" Huan said. Me and the other Spartan went back the way I came. Richard grabbed a rocket launcher as he left. Now I have to run back the same way I went the first time. I should have just waited outside. God damn it.

...

Huan landed inside the lobby. At least the building being sideways makes it easy to land inside of it. The Spartan grabbed the rear turret while I sat down. Suddenly, loud jet explosions replaced by the plasma explosions shaking the building. "What's going on up there?" Richard asked. "F-99 drones. They're flying into the Covenants air support." Huan explained. What the hell? Who's launching drones to help us?

"Richard, we're coming to pick you up." Huan ordered. I got up to look outside. Those things are flying into them. We barely have the men to operate one of those things without an AI. These drones are striking fast and accurately. That would take a lot more people than the planet has left. What the hell is going on? Who's doing this?

...

James POV

"MACSS, what was that?" I asked. "An announcement made my Nathaniel Scepter several years ago. It appears to have been played remotely." MACSS answered. "Scepter is alive?" Arnold asked. "Data not found." MACSS replied.

"I'm getting tired of playing 21 questions with the AI. We need to find out where we can get level one access, now!" Leroy yelled. I agree. This isn't getting us much further than we started. "Level one access is reserved for the chief executive of Scepter Corp." MACSS said. This stupid peice of trash is just repeating the stuff it says while it's not in the system now.

"Wait, we don't need Scepter! We just need someone with his access." Leroy exclaimed. Holy shit! "He's right. Even if Scepter's not on Olympus, we just need to figure out who's replacing him off the planet, and bring them here." I said. So how do we do that?

"MACSS, is it possible to establish off-world communications." Arnold asked. "Attempting to contact off-world Scepter Corp facilities. Error: Off-world communcations can not be established." Don't tell me the company shut down after Olympus got taken over. "Why?" Arnold asked. "Off-world communications can not be established." MACSS repeated. "Why?" Arnold repeated. Oh for fucks sake. "What's preventing Off-world communications?" I asked.

"All interstellar communications facilities have been disabled." Fuck, the Covenant. I forgot they took them out before they invaded. God damn it. It's like they know how to make a problem before it starts.

"Uh guys. Where did Leslie go?" Leroy asked. Shit.


	5. Comparing notes

**Halo Wars 2 is here. I stopped updating for a while because I feel like the Halo community has been asleep since Halo 5 introduced the purchasable REQ weapons. I'm not sure if it's that most of the community left at that point, or that Halo 5 multiplayer got boring, or I simply haven't been looking in the right place. What I do know is that I plan to finish this story.**

* * *

 ** _"And you know nothing about Containment..."_**

Leslie's POV

Is that a ghost? A real ghost? What's it doing? I'm gonna follow it. Damn. It flew through a door. And I have no idea how to open it. The keypad next to it uses a password I don't know. Maybe I can see it through that window next to the door. The ghost went in there. How am I going to get through that?

"Leslie, what is your position." Arnold asked. Where am I? Good thing they labled the door. "I'm just outside a room labled Containment." I reported. "Leslie, whatever you do, don't go in there!" Leroy warned. What's he worried about? "The room is locked down because of the infectious species inside." James explained. I have no idea what that is.

Suddenly, some deformed person banged on the window. A ceiling mounted flamethrower burned him. Okay, so the infection thing deforms people and hates fire. "Checking Containment status: Containment protocols are still active." MAC reported. So that thing isn't getting out. But how do I get to the ghost?

...

 ** _Just follow the trail..._**

Richard's POV

"Huan, set us down in that cave. We don't want to risk leading the Covenant to the others." I ordered. I'm not sure if we're being followed, but I do know patrols are usually redirected to investigate our landings. Once we dropped off, Huan flew away. If he doesn't get shot down, he'll be back to provide evac.

We moved through the forrests quietly. "There's the Warthog tracks. Looks like they're being tailed." Scott pointed out a number of alien footprints. "You don't think they were being chased, do you?" Ashley asked. "Probably not. No sign of plasma fire, and the footsteps are too close to be left by running." I explained. "It's probably a patrol noticing their trail." Scott concluded.

We followed the tracks, hoping to find the patrol before the patrol gets to the others. When we found them while they were inspecting the warthog. There's no sign of the others, so this is probably where they parked.

There's two skirmishers outside. I saw five sets of footprints. The other three are either inside the warehouse, or somehere else.

"I'm going to take out the two near the Warthod." I noted. I used my active camo to sneak up on them. I quickly snapped one neck while the other Skirmisher wasn't looking. I grabbed the other one by the throat before he could make a sound, and choked him to death.

The sounds of gunfire followed up. Leroy probably found the scouts inside the building, and is engaging them. "We need to move quickly, before they call reinforcements." Scott noted.

We moved into the building. There's an elite officer, and two Jackals using shields to fit there way down some stairs. We have them outflanked. We opened fire, trapping them between our fire and the fire they were already taking. They all went down quickly.

"What the hell took you so long?" James asked. "We found another Spartan." Ashley answered. "Scott 001." Scott introduced himself. "Where's Leslie?" I asked. "He was near some alien parasite. I told him not to go in, but I don't know if he heard me." James explained.

"Did any of these scouts we killed might have called back up?" Scott asked. "Not before we started shooting." Leroy answered. "Still, it's best we don't stick around for much longer." I said. The Covenant is going to notice the missing scouts and investigate.

"Have you learned anything new since you got here?" I asked. "We do not need Nathaniel Scepter. Whoever is replacing him as CEO should be able to use level 1 access." Arnold explained. "We also found out that there's something inside of the system. We don't know what yet." James added. I'll keep a note of that.

"Leslie. Report in." I ordered over the radio. "I'm chasing some kind of ghost, sir." Leslie reported. I have no idea what that means. If I were to guess, he ran into a hologram. He could never figure out how Covenant equipment works. "Just get back to the warthog." I responded.

"Warning: Slipspace activity detected. Covenant signatures detected." MACSS warned. "Now you notice." James replied. Wait a minute. "The covenant nevered attempted to disable any of the sensors monitoring Slipaspace activity." I reminded. Their ships were too fast for those sensors to be a threat.

"Guys, come look at this!" Ash shouted.

...

James POV

We ran outside to see what what Ash wants us to look at. She's pointing at a giant fireball coming from the sky. She's wasting our time on a giant fireball. Fucking pyromaniac. "Why do we need to see this?" I asked. "There was some purple explosion, and then that happened." Ash explained.

"Probably a engine malfunction. Using the slipspace engine must have overheated the powercore, and disabled the damn thing." I replied. The real question is how many new ships are hiding in orbit.

"I'm getting a signal. Friendly." Huan reported. "Patch it through." Scott ordered. First, there was static. Then, words. "This is Spartan-052. Does any one copy." Another friendly. "Impossible." Scott responded.


End file.
